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Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Sydney couple die in shipping container

The loving couple who were found dead inside a shipping container have been identified as Australian Helena Curic and Canadian-born Derek Kehler.They met in Canada while both working for an IT company in Vancouver.

It should have been a great winter long-weekend getaway. It's cold in Sydney at the moment and it's even colder up in Kurrajong, 75 kms from the city.The owners bought a 50 acre property in the bush, a dream come true, and looked forward to great camping holidays with family and friends. Because shipping containers are relatively cheap, the owners had made a make-shift camp and the owner's wife invited her sister and her partner to spend the long weekend with them.

There were three containers. The couple were in the middle - a makeshift kitchen - while the owners and their two children were in the one next door.

All went well until 7.30 am on Monday morning when the owners discovered the couple, dead in their bed. They died in their sleep from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning from a cooking pot of hot coals.

Flowers left at the gate

Hawkesbury Police Inspector Suzanne Rode-Sanders said the deaths were not being treated as suspicious. "It appears they had some sort of makeshift heater inside the cabin and there wasn't any ventilation and as a result, they have asphyxiated with carbon monoxide poisoning.... you always have to be mindful that when there is any sort of open fire, it creates fumes and you need ventilation."A Kurrajong resident said "These containers that are converted into cabins have sealed glass windows that don't open, you need to keep the door ajar." So simple, so tragic.